Breakfast cereals and snack foods represent a significant portion of the market for cereal products. Most frequently, the breakfast cereals are in the form of flakes, biscuits or other desired shapes. The breakfast cereals are generally prepared by cooking the ingredients in the form of a dough, and extruding the dough under pressure to expand and puff the dough. The extrudate is cut into bite-size pieces during or after extrusion and dried. Additional methods of preparing cereal products include shredding to form products such as shredded wheat.
Breakfast cereals and snack foods have often been combined with dried fruits and packaged in a ready-to-eat form. The most commonly used fruits are raisins, which are blended with ready-to-eat cereals such as corn flakes, bran flakes, and wheat flakes. Breakfast cereals containing raisins have achieved consumer acceptance, due in part to the combination of the crispy texture of the cereal and the soft texture and sweet taste of the raisin. In prepared ready-to-eat breakfast cereals, the raisins are, however, prone to moisture loss during packaging. The moisture content of the raisin is inherently generally higher than the moisture content of the cereal. Raisins generally have a moisture content of about 13% to 18%, while breakfast cereals generally have less than 5%. When the raisins and the breakfast cereals are combined and packaged in moisture proof materials, the raisins tend to lose a significant portion of the moisture and become hard and difficult to chew. The cereal, on the other hand, may absorb the moisture lost from the raisins and become soft and no longer crisp. Moreover, the increased moisture level of the cereal may result in a loss of the shelf stable characteristics of the cereal. Moisture migration between the various components of the cereal mix will typically result in a loss of consumer acceptance of the product.
The industry has sought to overcome the inherent difficulties in preparing breakfast cereals from a combination of dried fruits, such as raisins, and a crispy, ready-to-eat cereal. One proposed method has been to use freeze dried fruits. Freeze dried fruits have the advantage of being easily rehydrated when immersed in milk and being shelf stable for long periods of time. The cost of freeze dried fruits has, however, inhibited their extensive use in cereals. In addition, the flavor and texture of freeze dried fruits upon rehydration has not achieved extensive consumer acceptance. The flavor and texture of freeze dried fruits is generally inferior to the flavor of fresh fruit pieces.
Another effort to prevent the extensive migration of moisture from fruit pieces is to apply a coating of wax, such as beeswax, or a fat or oil on the surface fruit. The fat or oil is generally a solid or semi-solid at room temperature. The fat coating may serve as a moisture barrier to reduce the migration and loss of moisture from the fruit piece. This type of coated fruit product has the disadvantage of having a soft, waxy coating.
Other methods to reduce the loss of moisture and the loss of the desirable texture of fruit pieces include infusing the fruit piece with a humectant or other solution that retains the moisture in the fruit. Examples of these solutions that are infused into dried fruits include sugars and polyhydric alcohols.
The effects of moisture migration on the cereal is particularly noticeable in products having a dried fruit piece core and a coating of a cereal composition such as in cookies and granola type snacks. Since the cereal coating is in direct contact with the fruit piece, the cereal generally becomes soft and soggy during storage as the moisture from the fruit migrates into the cereal.
The current trend in consumer purchases of cereals and snack foods is toward products having no preservatives or artificial additives. These trends in consumer purchasing therefore limit the methods available for producing shelf stable cereals and dried fruits.
Many of the breakfast cereals currently on the market include sugar or other sweeteners. The sweeteners may be mixed with the dough composition before shaping the dough pieces. Alternatively, the sweeteners may be applied as a coating to the cereal pieces by spraying or dipping. The coated cereal pieces are then dried in an oven or in a bed of heated air. This type of coating process generally produces a sweet coating that dissolves quickly in milk and loses its sweet taste. As the coating dissolves, the cereal pieces also quickly lose their crunchy texture when immersed in milk.
Other breakfast cereals are provided with flavored coatings that at least partially dissolve in milk to release the flavor to the milk. The flavored cereal pieces are generally prepared by first applying a sugar solution to the dried cereal and applying a dusting of a dry flavor composition. The sugar solution generally serves as an adhesive for the flavor composition. These coatings do not generally result in a coating which allows the cereal to remain crispy in milk for extended periods of time.
Dried fruit pieces and, in particular, raisins, have been prepared for use in food products by applying a flavored coating composition to the fruit piece. For example, raisins have been coated with an aqueous solution of starch and sugar followed by dry powder coatings, sugar, salt and flavors. The coating steps may be repeated several times to increase the thickness of the layer. These coating do not provide a crunchy texture to the finished product.
The present invention is directed to a method of preparing a dried fruit piece having a coating of a fat and a crunchy cereal composition. The coated product is shelf stable for extended periods and retains its crunchy texture in milk. Moisture in the dried fruit is substantially inhibited from migrating into the coating such that the coating retains the crunchy texture and the fruit remains soft.